Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/240

Rh 222 APELLES. excessively thin coloured line on the panel, by which Protogenes, on his return, at once guessed who had been his visitor, and in his turn drew a still thinner line of a different colour upon or within the former (according to the reading of the recent editions of Pliny, in ilia ipsa). When Apelles re- turned and saw the lines, ashamed to be defeated, says Pliny, "tertio colore lineas secuit, nullum re- linquens amplius subtilitati locum." {lb. § 1 1.) The most natural explanation of this difficult passage seems to be, that down the middle of the first line of Apelles, Protogenes drew another so as to divide it into two parallel halves, and that Apelles again divided the line of Protogenes in the same manner. Pliny speaks of the three lines as visinn effugienies.* The panel was preserved, and carried to Rome, where it remained, exciting more wonder than all the other works of art in the palace of the Caesars, till it was destroyed by fire with that building. Of the means which Apelles took to ensure ac- curacy, the following example is given. He used to expose his finished pictures to view in a public place, while he h'd himself behind the picture to hear the criticisms of the passers-by. A cobbler detected a fault in the shoes of a figure : the next day he found that the fault was corrected, and was proceeding to criticise the leg, when Apelles rushed from behind the picture, and commanded the cobbler to keep to the shoes. (Plin. lb. § 12 : hence the proverb, Ne supra crepidam sutor : see also Val. Max. viii. 12, ext. § 3 ; Lucian tells the tale of Phidias, /»/-o Imag. 14, vol. ii. p. 492.) Marvellous tales are told of the extreme accuracy of his likenesses of men and horses. (Plin. xxxv. 36. §§ 14, 17.; Lucian, de Calumn. L c. ; Aelian, V. H. ii. 3.) With all his diligence, however, Apelles knew when to cease correcting. He said that he excelled Protogenes in this one point, that the latter did not know when to leave a picture alone, and he laid down the maxim, Noccre saepe nimiain dUigeniiam. (Plin. /.c. § 10; Cic. Orat. 22 ; QuIntiL X. 4.) Apelles is stated to have made great improve- ments in the mechanical part of his art. The as- sertion of Pliny, that he used only four colours, is incorrect. {Diet, of Ant. s.v. Colores.) He painted with the pencil, but we are not told whether he used the cestrum. His principal discovery was that of covering the picture with a very thin black var- nish {atrameritum), which, besides preserving the picture, made the tints clearer and subdued the more brilliant colours. (Plin. Z.c. § 18.) The process was, in all probability, the same as that now called glazing or toning^ the object of which is to attain the excellence of colouring "which does not pro- ceed from fine colours, but true colours ; from breaking down these fine colours, which would ap- pear too raw, to a deep-toned brightness." (Sir, J. Reynolds, Notes on Du Fresnoy., note 37.) From the fact mentioned by Pliny, that this varnishing could be discovered only on close inspection. Sir J. Reynolds thought that it was like that of Correggio. That he painted on moveable panels is evident from the frequent mention of tabulae with reference to his pictures. Pliny expressly says, that he did not paint on walls, (xxxv. 37.) of the lines, or may it mean that the three lines were actually tapered away towards a common vanishing point ? APELLES. A list of the works of Apelles is given by Pliny, (xxxv. 3G.) The)' are for the most part single figures, or groups of a very few figures. Of his portraits the most celebrated was that of Alexander wielding a thunderbolt, which was known as o K€pavvo({>6pos, and which gave occasion to the say- ing, that of two Alexanders, the one, the son of Philip, was invincible, the other, he of Apelles, in- imitable. (Plut. Fort. Alex. 2, 3.) In this picture, the thunderbolt and the hand which held it ap- peared to stand out of the panel ; and, to aid this effect, the artist did not scruple to represent Alex- ander's complexion as dark, though it was really light. (Plut. Aha;. 4.) The price of this picture was twenty talents. Another of his portraits, that of Antigonus, has been celebrated for its conceal- ment of the loss of the king's eye, by representing his face in profile. He also painted a portrait of himself. Among his allegorical pictures was one representing Castor and Pollux, with Victory and Alexander the Great, how grouped we are not told ; and another in which the figure of War, with his hands tied behind his back, followed the triumphal car of Alexander. " He also painted," says Pliny, "things which cannot be painted, thunders and lightnings, which they call Bronte, Astrape, and Ceramobolia." These were clearly allegorical figures. Several of his subjects were taken from the heroic mythology. But of all his pictures the most admired was the "Venus Ana- dyomene," (?) dvaSvofXfvq 'A(/)poSiT7j), or Venus rising out of the sea. The goddess was wringing her hair, and the falling drops of water formed a transparent silver veil around her form. This pic- ture, which is said to have cost 100 talents, was painted for the temple of Aesculapius at Cos, and afterwards placed by Augustus in the temple which he dedicated to Julius Caesar. The lower part being injured, no one could be found to repair it. As it continued to decay, Nero had a copy of it made by Dorotheus. (Plin. I.e.; Strab. xiv. p. 657.) Apelles commenced another picture of Venus for the Coans, which he intended should surpass the Venus Anadyomene. At his death, he had finish- ed only the head, the upper part of the breast, and the outline of the figure ; but Pliny saj's, that it was more admired than his former finished pic- ture. No one could be found to complete the work. (Plin. xxxv. I. c, and 40. § 41 ; Cic. ad Fam. i. 9. § 4, deOf. iii. 2.) By the general consent of ancient authors, Apelles stands first among Greek painters. To the undiscriminating admiration of Pliny, who seems to have regarded a portrait of a horse, so true that other horses neighed at it, as an achieve- ment of art as admirable as the Venus Anadyomene itself, we may add the unmeasured praise which Cicero, Varro, Columella, Ovid, and other writers give to the works of Apelles, and especially to the Venus Anadyomene. (Cic. Brut. 18, de Orat. iii. 7; Varro, L. L. ix. 12, ed. MuUer; Colum. R. B. Prae£ § 31, Schn.; Ovid. Art. Am. iii. 401; Font. iv. 1. 29 ; Propert. iii. 7. H ; Auson. Ep. 106 ; Anthol. Ftaiiml. iv. 178-182.) Statins {SUv. i. 1. 100) and Martial (xi. 9) call painting by the name of "Ars Apellea." Sir Joshua Reynolds says of the Greek painters, and evidently with an especial reference to Apelles, "if we had the good fortune to possess what the ancients themselves esteemed their masterpieces, I have no doubt but we should find tlieir figures as correctly drawn as the Lao-
 * Does this refer only to the excessive thinness